Fifth Judicial District judge charged with menacing put on paid leave
The judge in Colorado’s Fifth Judicial District who was charged with felony menacing in mid-October has been removed from his docket and put on paid leave until further notice, the state judicial branch said Monday.
Prosecutors in the Fifth Judicial District filed the charge against Judge Mark Thompson on Oct. 16. Prosecutors in the First Judicial District have been assigned to handle the case, and Judge Sean Finn of the 17th Judicial District is presiding. However, the Fifth Judicial District still has jurisdiction of the case.
The district covers Summit, Lake, Eagle and Clear Creek counties.
A person commits felony menacing when they cause someone to fear serious injury by threatening them with a deadly weapon or something that looks like one — or tell the person they have a weapon.
The charge against Thompson stems from an incident on July 25, according to the complaint released Wednesday. It describes the deadly weapon in question as an AR-15-style rifle. The document otherwise doesn’t contain specific details about the incident Thompson is accused of.
The charge carries one to three years in prison and two years of mandatory parole. Online records show Thompson has an appearance on a summons scheduled for Dec. 17 in Summit County District Court.
A senior judge will handle cases assigned to Thompson starting in November, according to an email sent Monday by judicial branch spokesperson Rob McCallum.
No specific policy or directive governs administrative actions for judges if they are charged with a crime, McCallum said in an email to The Denver Gazette. Actions taken are handled on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Thompson has been on paid time off and will not preside over a docket upon his return. The decision was made by now-Chief Judge Paul Dunkelman, named as Thompson’s replacement as the head of the Fifth Judicial District after Thompson was charged.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation aided with the investigation into Thompson at the request of the Fifth Judicial District, but a spokesperson for the agency didn’t give the specific reason.
The criminal case against Thompson may ultimately trigger the attention of the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, which among other duties oversees attorney discipline in the state, though the head of the office doesn’t comment on specific cases.
Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 242.11 requires lawyers to report charges and convictions of serious crimes, which include felonies, to the OARC within 14 days of either. The OARC usually waits until a criminal case ends in a conviction before filing a complaint against an attorney, but doesn’t have to.
Once the OARC files a formal complaint, discipline is ultimately decided by the Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, a special position appointed by the Colorado Supreme Court.